Fire Vatis Quest 2

File: Clericus Aelia world tree.jpg (327KB, 1366x768px) Image search: [Google]

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"Do not make yourself known." Aelia whispers.

"I can't use magic?" You ask for clarification.

"Correct. This is my sister's world, but her perception is not perfect. She is aware we have entered and is seeking us out. You will only hasten that process by exerting your will on the energy present in this place."

"If we can't burn this forest to the ground, then what are we supposed to do?" Aren't you supposed to be destroying this world, leaving it an empty shell?

"We need to reach the center of my sister's reality." Aelia gestures towards the tree extending above the forest canopy. The strange trunk extending off it rocks slowly back and forth in the wind. "At that tree, we will find the words that define who and what she is. There, we can destroy them."

"So we need to burn specifically that tree down."

"That would work." Aelia accedes, "But it would be more effective to cut away the parts of it that allow it to exist. The roots, several growths, and the tree of learning extending off its side. Without those, it would simply wither and die, leaving this world bare."

"The tree of learning?" You ask.

"The horizontal tree." Aelia explains. "It is formed from the knowledge Scolasticus Aelia has accumulated and stolen. It has presumably mutated to its unnatural state due to the inherent instability in directly incorporating the memories of other sapient beings. Knowledge that doesn't come from one's own self creates conflicts and dissonance. In small amounts, people are usually able to incorporate those memories naturally, but in quantities such as these, any being, even an artificial one, will succumb to irreversible insanity. While I am aware of one enchanter that was able to somehow change themself using magic to make the memories 'true', more often than not, citizens who were directly given too many memories would become hostile and impossible to communicate with. When an enchanter or other person reached such a state, they had to be put down. My sister is no different."

You listen intently. You recognize the sort of tale Aelia tells, though you're not sure where exactly stolen memories come into it. All vatis need to worry about insanity. Most humans die before the weight of the knowledge in their head becomes too much to bear, but from what you know about Samjani, the leading cause of death among their most powerful vatis is going crazy and being summarily executed. You suppose that device you were told about that directly gives people memories is what Aelia is talking about. That would explain how a regular person could reach such a frayed state of mind.

File: Facticius Clericus Aelia.jpg (209KB, 652x1008px) Image search: [Google]

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You return your thoughts to the task at hand. As interested as you are in insanity and false memories, you have a pressing issue to attend to. You need to get to that tree and cut it down.

"How do we get to your sister's central tree then? Can we just walk there?" It can't be that easy.

"Yes. As long as we avoid my sister's gaze and any entities that might be here."

"And how do we do that?"

"We walk where she is unlikely to look and take care to not be perceived by any creatures."

That's rather vague sounding, but you sort of get the idea. This is basically like stalking your prey in a hunt, something you were always terrible at. You understand the theory, and this forest is reminiscent of the sort you grew up around. You suppose its worth a shot. What are the other alternatives? Burning the forest down? Rushing there and hoping to destroy the tree before whatever hostile entities there might be can harm you?

You bring those other options up to Aelia, actually.

"The world itself is our enemy." Aelia states. "If it is stirred, then there is no way to avoid it before it can harm us. Fighting might be possible, but in this place our resources are limited while my sister's are nearly boundless. If you acted quickly, you might fight your way to her tree and destroy it before you could be harmed, but doing so would be dangerous. Additionally, some of the facets of her tree would be valuable to me. If possible, I would like to steal some of her powers for myself, and that can only be done with great precision, which is unlikely to be possible if we rush in violently."

You take Aelia's advice in mind and make your decision.

>Stealth is the way to go. You can always start blowing things up if you're seen.

>Fight the world 1v1. Your vys might be limited, but fire burns even without you to fuel it.

>Fight your way to the tree and blast its key parts before the world gets you.

No matter what, you'll also be rolling 3d10, modifiers and DC vary.

>>1501785
>Fight your way to the tree and blast its key parts before the world gets you.
Sneaking isn't really our strong suit from what I can tell

>>1501785
Stealth is the way to go.

Let's go metal gear

Rolled 1, 3, 9 = 13 (3d10)

>>1501785
>Fight your way to the tree and blast its key parts before the world gets you.

>>1501785
>Stealth is the way to go. You can always start blowing things up if you're seen.
Picking fights is for when we're not in a place where someone else is god

>>1501785

>Stealth is the way to go. You can always start blowing things up if you're seen.

If we're discovered we'll have to fight anyways. But at least we're closer to our destination when the fighting starts

also we dont have best girl ricky to buff our stealth, so we gotta start gitting gud ourselves

>>1501785
>Fight your way to the tree and blast its key parts before the world gets you.
We ain't no sniveling darkie.

Rolled 8, 6, 5 = 19 (3d10)

>>1501785
>completely didn't see the call to roll
fuck

Rolled 5, 5, 9 = 19 (3d10)

>>1501785
>>Stealth is the way to go. You can always start blowing things up if you're seen.

>>1501774
>not linking to the first thread
>trash

>>1502868

Good ideas, seconded

>>1501827
>>1502552
>>1503080
>Try to cheese a win in a fight vs the whole world

>>1502439
>>1502858
>>1502868
>>1503262
>>1505628
>Hide and seek with Sauron

>>1504887
Archive here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Fire%20Vatis%20Quest

Looks like stealth wins. You get a +2 bonus from your background and +4 from Clericus Aelia's presence, so the roll was:
3d10+6 vs DC 23 (Base 15, +8 from World of Scolasticus Aelia)

That in mind, your results were

19, 25, 25 vs DC 23
Regular success.

You are at 16/22 vys.
Spend 4 for great success?
>spend
>don't spend

>>1506159
>don't spend
Well get caught at some point sure, but if we make it to her mind tree there will 100% be a fight.

>>1506159
>don't spend

>best option is sneaking every time
pretty boring desu

>>1506159
>don't spend

>>1506159
>>spend
Let's make sure this place burns to the ground.

>>1506159
>don't spend

>>1506159
>spend

>>1506159
>>1506159
>Don't spend

>>1506205
It's not like we're going to spend the whole game sneaking

>>1506159
>don't

More vys for maximum explosions later.

>>1507717
MUCH LATER apparently.

ded

You seriously consider just throwing caution ot the wind and attempting a mad dash to the tree, but reconsider. You can always just do that if you're found while sneaking. The only downside to sneaking is that you could end up covertly surrounded and counter-ambushed. As long as you remain vigilant though, that shouldn't be possible.

"We'll sneak to the tree." You say.

"Understood. I will do my best to keep us concealed. I will be distracted. You will have to lead."

You examine the forest before you to select a path. It feels off. Although the sinister presence has lifted, as you look out at your surroundings you're stuck by the evenness of everything. Every trunk looks the same. The trees are lain out in a lattice, with lower vegetation not aimlessly covering the ground, but rather distributed in a structured way. It all looks as though it was put there by some intelligence, and that means that the forest lacks defining characteristics. Although you have the giant tree as a landmark, it'd still be easy to get turned around somewhere where the canopy is thick.

"I don't know anything about this place. Do you have any advice?"

"Yes. Navigation in this world is not based on physical space. Instead, you approach your destination by attempting to reach it. Choose a direction and focus on approaching the tree."

"How does that work? Does that mean I can walk away from the tree up there," You gesture in front of you. "and still get there?"

"So long as you believe you are traveling to it, yes." Aelia answers.

The idea of that is alien to you. It really doesn't make any sense, but you suppose its magic. Some consequence of how a mindscape works, or maybe how Rhynians created this place. Whatever.

"Alright." You respond and set off.

Since all the forest around you is the same, you opt to just choose the direction towards the central tree. Even if you could get there the other way, you'd rather just keep things simple. If navigation really is as easy as Aelia says, then you can focus on staying hidden.

You try to recall the lessons you didn't learn as a child. A whole lot of nonsense about being one with the forest and letting your sounds be its sounds. You know you're supposed to blend in with the shadows, but the light in this forest is flat. There's no sun, the sky simply illuminates everything evenly. Up until this moment you didn't realize how strange that was. The trees cast no shadows, instead standing as sentinels in high noon. Whatever the light is doesn't brighten the world though. Instead, everything is dim: colors don't contrast, and picking uniqueness becomes impossible. It's isolating. You stand not in a forest, but in a massive atrium constructed by some impersonal architect. Even under Aelia's friendly tree, you still get the sense of being unwelcome. You don't belong here. Not even your father would be able to 'become one' with this forest.

That's fine. You weren't going to be able to be a part of this place anyways. You're just going to stick with the obvious: avoid thick undergrowth, avoid stepping on loud things like gravel or dried leaves, avoid open areas, avoid well traveled areas. The intuitive stuff. You just don't want to be seen or heard.

You step out from the area around Aelia's tree. The malicious presence returns. You instinctively hold your breath for a moment, like an animal readying itself to fight. You force yourself to relax. You breath deeply in and out, trying to match the rhythim of your respiration to the forest around you. You realize, however, that there is no rhythm around you. The forest is dead. There is only the blowing wind. It doesn't gust or waver. It moves like the inexorable flow of water in an aqueduct, artificial and unceasing.

You make your way into the woods, your mind on the giant central tree, your awareness on the dead forest around you. Each tree you pass puts you in the path of a new windflow. The even demarcations in the wood determining a new direction with every step. Your robes flutter as the cold air blows through your body. Looking back at Aelia, you notice no such reaction from her dress. You try to position yourself so that she's blocking the wind to no avail. Its as though it simply passes through her, not even lifting a hair.

Aelia gazes vacantly off into the distance. She moves with you, in the path you're taking, but her mind is clearly somewhere else. You don't try to distract her.

You continue on for some time, quickly losing sight of Aelia's ash tree. The forest does not change around you. Although some minor details are different, the positions of the trees, their lengths and even the lines on their bark seem to remain the same. It begins to bore you. You try to focus on the giant tree above, but your mind wanders. What created this place? Was it fire magic? What is the purpose of this forest?

You snap out of it only when you spot a creature. A frost ghost. The first sign of anything else in the woods, you're only able to pick it out because of its unnatural blue color. The even light fails to show its details, but its clear what the creature is. The ghost chills the brush beneath it. The ground and bark nearby are white with frost. It hasn't seen you.

You step back out of the line of sight you had to it. Aelia robotically makes way for you, stopping abruptly and turning, still holding her vacant stare. You wince at the noise her feet make as they perform her harsh movements, but you don't look to see if it attracted any attention.

You recall that every direction leads to the tree, so you hold it strongly in your mind and set off back the way you came. You've not passed even three trees when you come across the exact same sight as before. The frost ghost is off in the distance with a circle of frozen plants and floor around it. Your first instinct is to channel fire into your hand, but you stop yourself. Aelia told you her sister could detect magic. You retain your composure instead and continue walking. If the ghost hasn't noticed you yet it won't notice you until you take further action.

As you continue walking, you're deeply unsettled to find a ghost off in the distance after every third or so tree. Your first thought is that there are simply tens of the things, but uniformity of their placement stands out to you. It doesn't seem reasonable that every ghost would be the same distance away and be surrounded by all the same vegetation. There was variation in the underbrush, but below each ghost are the exact same plants. You're not sure if this is more or less comforting though. As you continue to the tree you get no further from the thing.

The more you walk, the less in touch with reality Aelia seems to become. Her movements grow stiffer and less subtle. The environment seems to react more seriously to her. Small plants stepped on by her lay flat as though trampled over. Her feet leave stronger impressions in the ground. You notice that her hair is finally blowing in the wind, though her dress remains still.

You're worried that she's going to give you away to that ghost you keep passing. With every pass Aelia becomes more obvious. You'd rather not have a foe close enough to be seen nearby. You shift your focus to moving away from the ghost. This works. Shortly after your focus shifts, the ghost is no longer in sight. You notice that the air around you is less cold, having returned to normal after a longer period of imperceptable dropping. You shiver, glad to be away from that creature.

You return yourself to the task of approching the central tree. Looking up to the sky to regain your bearings, you're shocked to find that the tree is no longer there. The sky is absent. Its flat, uncaring grey extends in every direction, empty, mocking. Still, you're not deterred. Aelia said you could just hold the idea of a place in your mind. It's easy to recall the appearance of the misshapen tree. Its mutated outgrowth tree is unforgettable. Such a thing is too unnatural to be forgotten so easily.

You continue onward. After a period of uneventful travel, you're pleased to see the giant tree return to the sky. It's closer now. The horizontal outgrowth trunk points directly at you, extending like some sort of directional sign pointing to you as the destination. It practically looms over you. The bent shape it has due to gravity turns it down, putting its top on a direct line to exactly where you're standing. No matter how much farther you move forward, the tree points directly at you. You can see where the trunk tapers off. It might as well be right in your face.

You get the feeling that it isn't a coincidence. That the tree has found you and is trying to give you away. You turn towards Aelia, hoping for some kind of information. She's staring directly at you. Her eyes are still empty, but they track you perfectly.

You whisper to her quietly, trying to get her attention, but she doesn't respond. She only looks at you, her hair and dress fluttering in the breeze.

Again the instinct to set something on fire rises within you. You want to blast the tree, or warm yourself up, or at least do something rather than just walk slowly, but you suppress it again. Scolasticus Aelia can detect magic in her world. That's what you were told. You won't give yourself away so easily.

Shaking off Aelia's unblinking gaze and the eerie signifying of the tree, you keep working towards your goal. You get the feeling you're nearly there. You pass several more trees. Around the eight, the sight around you stops you dead in your tracks. In every direction is a frost ghost. No matter where you turn, you can see one of those creatures waiting. You remain stationary, preparing yourself for a fight, but they make no move to attack you. Every one just floats silently. The wind has stopped.

You take several steps forward, passing a couple trees and coming closer to the ghosts ahead of you. When you look around, you find that every ghost is that much closer. Did you accidentally shift your focus to approaching the ghosts? You're pretty sure your mind was on the tree, but its possible you let yourself get distracted. You don't like this one bit.

>Fuck this. They know you're here. Its time to set things on fire. Set everything on fire.

>The time for a fight is now, but you don't want to exhaust yourself against these mooks. Try to make the final rush to the tree, forgoing stealth for speed. Make your stand there.

>Continue being stealthy. These ghosts don't know you're here or they would have attacked. You can still get there unobserved, if not unnoticed.

>Try to snap Aelia out of it. It's time to act and you need her advice.

>Continue being stealthy. These ghosts don't know you're here or they would have attacked. You can still get there unobserved, if not unnoticed.

>>1524811
>Continue being stealthy. These ghosts don't know you're here or they would have attacked. You can still get there unobserved, if not unnoticed.

>>1524811
>The time for a fight is now, but you don't want to exhaust yourself against these mooks. Try to make the final rush to the tree, forgoing stealth for speed. Make your stand there.

>>1524811
>>The time for a fight is now, but you don't want to exhaust yourself against these mooks. Try to make the final rush to the tree, forgoing stealth for speed. Make your stand there.
we got close enough, time for the rush

>>1524811
Continue being stealthy